With 1,370 miles and three weeks of biking behind him, Alex Voigt found himself in a Budget Inn in Ellijay, Georgia, on the last Tuesday in April. The Appalachian Trail shuttle would arrive at 9 the next morning.

Before he left for the hiking leg of his journey, the Sartell High School grad had to finish swapping out bicycling equipment for backpacking gear. Voigt, 29, quit his newspaper design and copy editing job for this two-part trip.

The planning, scrimping and mapping started about a year ago. Voigt bought gear gradually. In addition to the cost of gear, he budgeted about $1,000 for the biking part of the trip, $4,000 for the hiking part. The inspiration came a couple of years earlier, when he wrote about a couple who rode a tandem bike from Mankato to the southern tip of South America.

"They derived more joy out of their day than I could ever dream of," Voigt said.

Voigt had run marathons. He had taken dayslong biking trips and enjoyed backpacking with St. Cloud Boy Scout Troop 106 and with his family. He chose the Appalachian Trail because it was a well-used, well-marked route. The idea percolated. Why not combine a bike trip with a backpacking trip?

"I knew I needed a change in some way, shape or form because I felt like I was being complacent. Everything was all kind of the same. I wasn't really building toward anything. Eventually, I started thinking like there was more I should be doing with my life," Voigt said.

The St. Cloud State University grad had moved on from the Mankato Free Press to another newspaper job based in Faribault. He had no debts. No mortgage. No wife or serious girlfriend.

So he quit his job.

He put the 2002 Kia Rio with 160,000 miles into storage.

"I'm not going to lie, I was extremely nervous about it leading up to it," Voigt said. "I kept telling myself, 'Wow, am I really going to do this?' I never saw myself as being that type of guy."

He gave his boss about six weeks' notice. When he hung up the phone, he wondered what he'd done.

"I was always somebody who wanted to think about himself as being career-oriented, or wanted to pursue stuff that is more traditional. You try to work for a company for a number of years, you try to build a resume," Voigt said.

But the compulsion could not be ignored.

He prepared physically by snowshoeing with a backpack in a Faribault park, riding the exercise bikes and rowing machines at the gym. He watched an entire series of "Dexter" at the gym. But he didn't tell anyone but his best friend about his plans until Christmastime.

Alex Voigt camped nine nights during the biking portion of his trip, including one night on a baseball field. This site was in Burfordville, Mo.(Photo: Courtesy of Alex Voigt)

His brother Eric, 33, a self-employed construction worker who lives in Sauk Rapids, wasn't too surprised. He said the trip was a vehicle for his brother to overcome boundaries and adversity.

"I'm almost envious in a way," Eric Voigt said. "My life is not so free-flowing."

Once Alex Voigt hit the road, he settled into a routine. He covered 94 miles on his longest day, 34 miles on his shortest. He planned some stops based on Warm Showers, a website that connects touring bicyclists with potential hosts. But the most memorable moments came when things went off track. Like the day in southern Iowa he sought refuge from blinding rain in a farm family's garage. They drank a couple of beers. The farmer offered to drive him to his next host site.

In the course of long days of solitary biking, Voigt, who considered himself an introvert, said he learned that he needs human interaction. He said he was looking forward to seeing more people on the Appalachian Trail.

During the bike trip, Voigt said he was always thinking about the schedule, where he'd be staying next, how many miles he'd covered.

"He's very different from me, where he keeps things so scheduled. I like to keep things open," Eric Voigt said. "That's what I was telling him, not to think about how many miles in a day, not to be too scientific."

Alex Voigt seems to be taking that advice. He's planning a more relaxed approach with the Appalachian Trail.

"I'd like to finish the Appalachian Trail, but I'll see how it works out time and moneywise," Voigt said. Maine's Baxter State Park at the northern end of the 14-state, 2,184-mile route closes in mid-October.

"For the time being, I'm making the goal as a through-hike, but I don't want to get hung up on that because the whole goal of the trip was to enjoy life or really appreciate things," Voigt said.